harbinger

har·bin·ger

(här′bĭn-jər)

n.

One that indicates or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner.

tr.v.har·bin·gered, har·bin·ger·ing, har·bin·gers

To signal the approach of; presage.

[Middle English herbengar, person sent ahead to arrange lodgings, from Old French herbergeor, from herbergier, to provide lodging for, from herberge, lodging, of Germanic origin; see koro- in Indo-European roots.]

harbinger

(ˈhɑːbɪndʒə)

n

1. a person or thing that announces or indicates the approach of something; forerunner

2. (Historical Terms) obsolete a person sent in advance of a royal party or army to obtain lodgings for them

vb

(tr) to announce the approach or arrival of

[C12: from Old French herbergere, from herberge lodging, from Old Saxon heriberga; compare Old High German heriberga army shelter; see harry, borough]

har•bin•ger

(ˈhɑr bɪn dʒər)

n.

1. one that announces or foreshadows the approach of someone or something; forerunner; herald.

2. a person sent in advance of troops, a royal train, etc., to provide or secure lodgings and other accommodations.

v.t.

3. to act as harbinger to; herald the coming of.

[1125–75; late Middle English herbenger, alter. of Middle English herbegere, dissimilated variant of Old French herberg(i)ere host =herberg(ier) to shelter (< Germanic; see harbor) + -iere-er2]

I, as all others, to his baptism came, Which I believed was from above; but he Straight knew me, and with loudest voice proclaimed Me him (for it was shewn him so from Heaven)-- Me him whose harbinger he was; and first Refused on me his baptism to confer, As much his greater, and was hardly won.

heart is oppressed with unutterable anguish, condemned to conceal that passion which is at once the torment and delight of life'--when 'his lip, the ruby harbinger of joy, lies pale and cold, the miserable appendage of a mang--' that is, Miss Monson, I mean to say, when all our faculties are engrossed by one dear object we are often incoherent and mysterious, as a matter of course.

A great potentate might arise, an artful prodigy, who with approval and disapproval could strain and constrain all the past, until it became for him a bridge, a harbinger, a herald, and a cock-crowing.

Then, as he wended his way by swamp and stream and awful woodland, to the farmhouse where he happened to be quartered, every sound of nature, at that witching hour, fluttered his excited imagination, --the moan of the whip-poor-will from the hillside, the boding cry of the tree toad, that harbinger of storm, the dreary hooting of the screech owl, to the sudden rustling in the thicket of birds frightened from their roost.

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